


my one and only

by QQI25



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 04:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18843364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QQI25/pseuds/QQI25
Summary: Based on this post by tumblr user siniristiriitaStory idea: the most wanted woman in town has announced that she’ll only marry the one who can open her front door with the key around her cat’s neck. Many men try to hunt the cat down, chase and trap it, but to no avail, the cat is simply too quick, smart and clever and always finds a way to evade and avoid them.You are the first one to figure out the obvious: Do not chase the cat. The cat is befriendable. Get the cat to trust you, to genuinely enjoy your company, and you can hang out with the cat. You may eventually be allowed to touch the cat. The cat will freely let you take the key.Secondary plot twist: the woman is a shapeshifter. She is the cat.





	my one and only

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song Sophie by The Altogether! 
> 
> as stated in the summary, this is based off a tumblr post by siniristiriita
> 
> it switches btwn povs! first nd third are same person, whilst mid is someone else. hope it's not too confusing!

She accidentally falls in line behind a cat one day on her walk around the neighborhood. It looks really soft and she wants to get to know it better, so she trails a safe distance behind. It eventually tires and stops, curling up on the pavement. She sits a ways away so she’s not bothering the cat, but can still admire it. Her body eventually starts protesting, so she bids the cat goodbye and heads home. 

Her routine evolves to work in some time to follow the cat; she seems to be out at the same times that the cat is. After a week of this, the cat grows comfortable enough with her to amble closer once she sits. After two weeks, the cat is pressed up against her leg. After three, the cat is pressed up against her hand, so she pets it. It really is so soft. 

“Hey,” she coos. “Do you have a name, pretty baby?” She finds a collar, but the only thing attached is a house key. Very strange thing to have, she muses. “Not one that I can find, but we can work with that. You just look divine, don’t you?” And then the cat _mews_ and it’s just the most precious thing she’s heard. 

“Hello to you too, baby! Are you hungry?” The cat meows again and looks at her with the most adorable eyes. “Of course you are! Lucky for you, I have some chicken. Let’s go home.” She picks up the cat carefully, petting it as she walks to her house.

She sets the cat down and washes her hands so she can rip the chicken into more easily digested pieces. When she rips what she deems to be a good amount, she plates it and sets it down on the floor for the cat, who eagerly goes to it. 

“C’mere kitty,” she says once the cat’s done eating, making kissy noises. The cat goes over to her and she picks it up along with the now-empty plate, dropping the plate off at the sink. She takes the cat out and crouches down on her porch.

“Here you go, baby. Run along home. I’m sure whoever your friend is, is missing you! And this key.” The cat mews at her once more before leaving. She watches until she can’t see it anymore and goes back in. 

\---

You’re starting to get frustrated. Everyone seems to want you but this girl. Countless men have chased after you since you moved here, leading you to make the declaration that they had to find your cat and take the key to unlock the front door before you’d date them. You figured you’d tackle the shapeshifter issue once it came to it. All the men do is chase after you. They run, not seeming to realise that cats can run forever. They try to trap you, not realising how clever you are. 

And then this girl comes along. She walks a safe distance behind you, and stays away even after she tires you out. She does this every day, no other intention than to try to get you to go to her. You cave and start inching closer after a week, right against her leg in two. She _still_ doesn’t touch you then, so after three weeks you have to headbutt her hand for her to get the idea. Even then, she doesn’t make a move to take the key away, even though she touches it. So you meow at her and instead she takes you home and feeds you. 

You start trying to be less subtle after that. When she walks behind you, you turn around and weave through her legs, a move that always has her laughing. You follow her home and scratch at her door after she tells you to go back home. She still refers to her house as home when talking to you. _She_ caves and lets you back in. 

“I’ll show you around, okay? You insistent kitty, you curious cat.” She picks you up and gives you a tour of her house. “I have to work, so I’ll be in my office, okay? You want anything, you come get me.” You head to her bed and curl up below the pillow in the middle. 

You’re barely awake when she comes in. She spots you and doesn’t turn the light on. You close your eyes again and feel a dip in the bed. A hand starts petting you softly.

“Oh you,” she murmurs. “Your friend’s gonna get jelly at how much time you spend away from home. Gonna get worried and miss you.” 

You start spending more time as a cat. You start sleeping nights at her house, tucked into the circle she forms. It feels safe there, feels like _home_. In your real home, you’re always on edge, always waiting for a man to burst through your door. But it had been the only way you could think of back then to get them to leave you alone when you were out and about, when you were walking, when you were shopping. She doesn’t seem to spend much time with other people, or maybe it’s just because she has you over so often now. And then she gets the call. 

“Hey dude, I’m on my lunch break so I don’t have a lot of time, but listen. So a while back, one of the guys told me about this girl, said guys were always on her, until one day, she talked to one of them. ‘Find my cat, take the key, and unlock my front door, and I’ll go on a date with you’, she said.” You tense.

“How do they know which house is hers?” she asks.

“Oh, her house is at the mouth of your sub. You’ve passed by it probably countless times. Anyway, the cat isn’t out as much. Have you seen it? Or like, do you know anything about her? Like, did someone do it? Is she with a guy nowadays? You know the guys. They’re pestering me since I’m the closest to you.” She glances at you, at the key around your neck.

“No, I haven’t seen a cat around either. That’s kinda weird though. Tell the guys to tone it down, maybe. Weirdly obsessive. Tell them to get a life.” The guy laughs.

“Yeah, agree. I can _try_ , but I can’t guarantee a success. Thanks for humouring me.” 

“Yep. Bye!”

“Bye!” She looks at you again and holds out her arms. You go to her, and she holds you to her chest. 

“Oh, baby. You’re in a real sticky situation, aren’t you? Buncha creepy men chasing after you. You shouldn’t keep wandering around outside. I’ll take you home after we have lunch.” 

Lunch is done too soon, and she cradles you in her arms as she walks to your house. There’s not really anyone out, because they’re still at work. Still, she seems to be trying to strategically hide the key. When she gets to your front door, she unlocks it.

“Hello?” she calls out into the house. No one answers, of course. Regardless, she puts you down. You meow and paw at her leg pitifully until she crouches down. 

“No one’s home, sweetheart. You must be lonely, huh? Well, it’s just safer for you to stay here, okay? Your friend will be home in no time. I love you.” She kisses your forehead and ushers you inside so she can close the door. She waves at you before heading home. Did she not hear the part about you dating whoever unlocks your front door? 

You decide to instead approach her as a human, since approaching her as a cat didn’t seem to work. You know her schedule, so you walk when she usually does. Sure enough, you spot her. 

“Hey! I live at the house at the mouth of the sub,” you say to introduce yourself. 

“Hi! Oh, your cat’s out a lot, huh?” 

“Yeah, she’s real smart, and likes to be out, so as long as she comes back, I don’t mind.” 

“She comes over to my house,” she confesses. “Well, she seemed friendly so I decided to befriend her, and then I took her to my house one day and she’s been coming regularly since then. Sometimes I let her stay the night. She just seems so comfy that I don’t wanna move her when night falls!” 

“As long as I know where she is! Cats are like that, huh?”

“Sure are.” You fall into a comfortable silence as you walk side by side. Soon, you’re nearing her house.

“Hey, actually, this is my house right here. Do you wanna come inside? I could fix you up something to eat or drink or both,” she offers.

“Sure!”

“I’m Sophie, by the way. I don’t think I said that before.”

“Esmé.”

“Oh, that’s such a pretty name! Esmé . . .” You like the way she says your name. 

You start spending time at her place as a human too. It’s . . . different. You don’t cuddle as much. When you were a cat, she would curl around you, wherever you were. As a human, she maintains some distance from you. You tire of this quickly, and gradually sit closer and closer to her as time goes on. What’s happening is like when you were a cat, you realise. She waits for _your_ cue. It’s weird; people don’t really do that, from your experience. But _she_ does. You don’t really wanna think about how sad it is that it’s weird that she does that, so you switch back to visiting mostly as a cat.

“Your friend comes over too. Esmé,” she says quietly as she pets you one day. “She’s very nice and pretty. I hope she’s nice to you too. She probably is. She doesn’t seem like the type of person who’s mean to animals. Do you miss her when you come over? Would you be more at home if we were _at_ your home? Does she also talk to you a lot? I should probably get back to work, huh. They never tell you that being an artist is hard because you have a cat around that you never wanna leave alone. Yeah, I’ll get back to work. . . . Don’t mew, okay? I’ll be sad and won’t get any work done.” You don’t meow because you know how it is.

“Thank you. You’re a very kind kitty.” She comes back to pet you one more time. “Okay, _now_ I’m going back to work.” 

When you visit as human you, you like to put your head in her lap. You did it one time when you guys were watching a movie, and she started running her fingers through your hair, so you do it a lot now. Once, she laughed quietly as she remarked to cat you about how much human you is like cat you. Of course, she didn’t say it that way; no one here knows. But you’re starting to toy with the idea of telling her. She treats both cat you and human you so well. You just don’t know how you’d go about telling her that. 

There’s a lot of things on your mind. You maybe wanna tell her but don’t know how. You wanna invite her over but you don’t know if you should, because she’ll see there’s no cat. All of that goes away when you’re with her though. She’ll hold your hand or put her arm around you and pull you in towards her and you feel like you’re boneless. You wonder if she feels that way too. 

\---

She meets the cat’s friend. Getting to know her, Esmé, feels much like getting to know the cat did. She finds they both love touch. Esmé will scooch closer to her whenever they’re sitting. Just like her cat, Esmé loves when Sophie runs fingers through her hair. 

She’s been inviting Esmé over to her house, but she decides to start taking her out too. It’s spring and the weather’s just so nice. So they go to the parks nearby, and they go to the Farmer’s Market, and they shop together. Esmé also starts staying the night. She only has her own bed, but she never minds sharing with Esmé. Esmé’s cat still comes over. It’s a fairly even mix of visits from the both, but they never come at the same time. She doesn’t think much of it. After working late one night, she goes into her bedroom to find Esmé already sleeping and a paper on her bedside table. She takes it outside so she doesn’t turn on the light and disturb Esmé. 

_Sophie,_

_I’m writing this because I don’t know how or if I can tell you this in person. You’ll know why in a moment. I know it’s hard to believe, but I am a shapeshifter. The cat that visits you that I say is mine is me. The human is me. It’s always been like this. This is not a joke. I would not make a joke about this. It causes me many restless nights and stomachaches when I think of telling people._

_I tell you because I trust you with my heart. When you met the cat, you were kind. You let me go to you. No one has ever done that. All they do is chase after me. When you met the human, you were kind. You let me go to you. No one has ever done that, either. They have not waited ‘til I was comfortable with them. They have operated on their own wants and needs. You were the first person to treat both the cat and the human with this kindness, and I cannot thank you enough. I know you are just being you, but you are an extraordinary person._

_If you don’t believe me, I understand. But please, try to talk to me first or something so that you may work towards that. And if you want to never talk to or see me ever again, I understand that too. I just ask that you don’t tell anyone and please don’t look upon me with too much hate. I am just trying to get by in this world, same as you._

_Thank you for being there for me and showing me a kindness I had not been shown ‘til I met you. I hope you sleep well._

_Love,_  
_Esmé_

It makes sense. She’s never seen Esmé and the cat at the same time. They have such similar mannerisms. The cat seems to understand her a bit too well. She thinks back to that time she asked the cat to not mew and the cat didn’t, and her heart warms. She gets ready to sleep and slips into bed beside Esmé. 

In the morning, she wakes up to an empty bed. She sits up and stretches and goes to the kitchen, where she finds Esmé. Upon seeing her, Esmé stands up.

“Good morning.”

“Morning May. I got your note. Thank you for trusting me with that information.” She kisses Esmé on the cheek and notices that she blushes. Oh. That’s new. 

After that, Esmé seems to be more relaxed around her. It used to be that Esmé only relaxed when she touched her in some way, but it’s like Esmé feels comfortable in this space, like it feels like home to her. It makes Sophie happy. 

Esmé asks her on a date two days later. She happily accepts. Over the course of many dates and sleepovers, Esmé grows comfortable with switching between being a human and cat no matter the time frame. Her stuff also slowly makes its way over to Sophie’s house. She doesn’t mind when Esmé fully moves in.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. wow i did nOt think it was gna be this long when i started writing it sksdksksksksks it's frickin 12 pgs in google docs
> 
> 2\. sry if the ending feels? like cop out? just a reminder tht im quoiro nd ace nd do not understand how starting romantical relationships works. 
> 
> 3\. the name sophie is defo from the song the title is based off. i just got into them recently nd i LOVE them
> 
> 4\. Esmé means esteemed/loved in old french, first recorded in scotland. it was some dukes name. i looked up "loved" nd rly liked Esmé soooo
> 
> 5\. they didn't hv names til when they intro themselves 
> 
> 6\. i always say this but! i hv more stuff planned. tho i might also take a lil writing break to do some more drawing idk we'll see lmao


End file.
